We all visited Angels Camp after staying over night with Frances' uncle Richard & Gail.

Postcard back:

ANGELS CAMP, CALIFORNIA In the heart of the Mother Lode. For almost 50 years, the home of the famous re-enactment of Mark Twain's "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calevaras County" Contest. Now expanded to a full fledged county fair with a horse show, carnival, beauty pageant, etc. Angels Camp itself began as a trading post in 1848 when miner Henry Angels decided that outfitting the gold seekers would reap as much profit as the hunt for gold itself. It grew from a few tents to a hustling community in 3,000 in 1917. Today, Angels Camp is a modern town of 2,000 with every needed facility, still offering the tourist a chance to step into the past in an instant.

Pictured: Left - St. Patrick's Church Upper right - Part of a famous collection of old mining equipment. Lower right - The main street. Photos: Wolfgang Kohz

Leonard's comments:

They mean "bustling community"... OR DO THEY?

Tragically, the contest was originally to see who could pour the most buckshot down a frog's gullet. (I am making this up, but this page says that a 'Frog Welfare Policy' was only adopted in 1995.)

The name of that "part of a famous collection of old mining equipment" is "Ol' Beth".

This document (source) is part of Crummy, the webspace of Leonard Richardson (contact information). It was last modified on Thursday, November 26 2015, 04:03:03 Nowhere Standard Time and last built on Thursday, December 14 2017, 02:00:27 Nowhere Standard Time.